Chapter 4
I was running to get Pae Maseong, but he was the first one to come in, so I was confused about what was happening.
Moreover, Pae Maseong's face was clean.
I had expected his face to be swollen and bruised from being beaten by Do Hawol, his consciousness fading, or hovering between life and death, but he was perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened.
"Socheong, are you okay?"
Putting everything else aside, for him to ask that in this situation felt even more unreal.
"You... what happened? Are you hurt? Did you not get hit? Did Do Hawol just let you go? Did you get caught by the instructors outside? Ah, that's what it was!"
That must have been it.
That would make sense.
I let out a sigh of relief, thinking that we had narrowly avoided a huge disaster.
So that's what happened. That's how it went. That's a relief. We were in big trouble, but it's a real relief.
"Let's get out of here first. We can't run into those guys again if we stay here. They might suddenly change their minds."
As I pulled Pae Maseong along, he just smiled.
Then, just outside the door, I ran right into the First Class gang.
Do Hawol was nowhere to be seen. Cho Yusan was also gone.
And a few other children were also missing.
What was strange was the look in the eyes of those children when they saw us.
They couldn't even look at us properly and turned their heads away, as if they had seen something they shouldn't have.
'Why are they like that?'
Still, I thought it would be best to keep Pae Maseong and those guys from running into each other, so I led Pae Maseong out first.
When we went outside, the children were murmuring.
I was wondering what was going on when the children who saw Pae Maseong staggered back. A path opened up in front of them, and I could see Do Hawol behind them.
'Do Hawol? Is that really Do Hawol? Why is he like that?'
Do Hawol was lying on the ground, unable to move, and the First Class gang next to him was shaking him.
I was curious about what had happened, but I didn't have the courage to go and check.
Just then, a child came running.
And an instructor followed behind him.
"Over here, instructor. Pae Maseong, that bastard Pae Maseong, beat Do Hawol with a wooden sword."
I wondered what I had just heard.
Pae Maseong?
They already fought?
Do Hawol was down because of Pae Maseong?
I looked at Pae Maseong, wondering how this had happened.
"You... you defeated Do Hawol?"
"Yeah, with a horizontal slash."
Pae Maseong said with a somewhat proud face.
"I thought what I was thinking was right. What the instructors taught me was so strange, so I tried it my way, and it worked."
I was a little fed up with Pae Maseong for saying that about a horizontal slash, not some amazing technique.
But right now, the fact that Pae Maseong had defeated Do Hawol seemed more important.
I wondered if it was possible to do that to Do Hawol with a horizontal slash, not some amazing technique, and with a wooden sword at that.
He wasn't just any kid from another group, he was from the First Class.
Do Hawol, who was one of the top members of the First Class?
The kid who had called the instructor suddenly stopped in his tracks and shut his mouth.
He must have seen Pae Maseong.
Pae Maseong bowed to the instructor, and the instructor looked at Pae Maseong first before approaching Do Hawol.
Do Hawol only regained consciousness after a while. It seemed the instructor had infused him with ki.
I thought I should get Pae Maseong away from there, so I pulled his arm, and Pae Maseong followed me obediently.
As soon as we returned to the dormitory, I asked what had happened.
"What did you do? How did you do it?"
"I hit him with a wooden sword. I thought he would block it, but he didn't."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Was I too fast?"
Pae Maseong scratched his head with his usual clueless expression.
"What if the instructor punishes you?"
"Then I'll have to take the punishment."
Pae Maseong said and became sullen. He was just a kid. But for such a young kid to defeat Do Hawol.
I was so amazed that I couldn't even speak properly when the door suddenly opened. I thought it would be our roommates if someone came in, but it was the instructor who had been checking on Do Hawol.
He didn't come alone; other instructors came with him.
"You're Pae Maseong, right?"
Pae Maseong looked at me first with a frightened face.
I thought the instructors had come to take Pae Maseong away, so I stood next to him and held his hand tightly.
The instructors glanced at my hand once and then turned their gaze back to Pae Maseong.
"Pae Maseong, what did you do to Do Hawol?"
"I, I... I just did as I was taught..."
Pae Maseong muttered, trembling with fear.
"I'm not trying to scold you, so speak comfortably. If you tell the truth, no one will punish you. In fact, I'm here to praise you."
"...What?"
Pae Maseong asked with a surprised face and then looked at me again.
His face seemed to ask if I thought he was telling the truth, but I didn't believe him.
When I shook my head slightly, the instructors, who must have seen it, chuckled.
"Since you don't seem to want to talk, I guess we'll have to find out for ourselves."
Then, the instructor suddenly drew his sword.
The swords the instructors carried were real swords.
I hadn't expected him to suddenly draw a real sword, and thinking that the young Pae Maseong might die like this, I grabbed his hand and hid him behind me.
Only after that did I realize what I had done.
Pae Maseong was a kid who would come back to life even if he died once.
I had no such guarantee.
But I couldn't just watch such a young kid die, so I had acted without thinking.
However, in front of a skilled martial artist like the instructor, it was useless.
The instructor passed by me like the wind and swung his sword at Pae Maseong.
I was startled and turned around, but it seemed he hadn't intended to cut Pae Maseong, as his sword only cut through the air.
"Pick up your wooden sword, Pae Maseong. I'm just trying to see what you did."
And as if to convince him that he was telling the truth, he put down his sword and picked up his scabbard.
It seemed he was going to fight with his scabbard.
Pae Maseong, as if he had no other choice, swung his wooden sword.
I think it was the first time I had seen Pae Maseong swing a wooden sword so confidently.
Until now, when he held a wooden sword, he would look troubled and fidgety, as if he didn't know what to do with it. But now, he was different.
He drew his sword boldly and decisively, as if he knew the exact path the sword should take.
To be honest, I didn't know if it was that amazing.
It was only surprising because it was Pae Maseong; I and the other children had been doing it like that all along.
But the instructors looked at each other and exchanged strange glances.
'What is it? Are these people seeing something that I can't see? Did Pae Maseong just do something amazing?'
As I was thinking that, the instructor looked at Pae Maseong and said.
"Try to block my sword."
"I'm... not confident about that."
Even though Pae Maseong said that, the instructor didn't care and swung his sword.
Even though it was a scabbard, he didn't seem to be holding back just because his opponent was a child.
Pae Maseong hastily grabbed his sword with both hands and blocked it.
In terms of physical strength, he was naturally at a disadvantage, and he couldn't hold on for long before he dropped his wooden sword.
I looked at the instructor, wondering why he would do something so obvious, but this time, the instructor had a truly surprised look on his face and exchanged glances with the other instructors.
The people who had initially seemed to have come out to see an interesting spectacle all had serious expressions now.
I looked at them, wondering what on earth was going on.
I looked at Pae Maseong, wondering if he knew something, but he had an even more puzzled look on his face than I did.
"Pae Maseong, did you ever learn martial arts before coming here?"
"No. Not at all."
Pae Maseong said, shaking his head and hands at the same time.
"You've never learned an internal art either?"
"No."
"How old are you now?"
"I'm ten years old."
At that, the instructor who had asked the questions looked at the others.
"It's a little late to start in earnest now."
"But he definitely has talent."
"I think he's worth cultivating."
"Should we put him in the First Class?"
"We should report it first."
The instructors who had come in gathered together and talked as if they were having a meeting.
Pae Maseong, looking worried, came and stood right next to me.
"For now, stay here. We'll call you again."
The instructors, seeming to have decided that they couldn't reach a conclusion like this, left.
"Socheong, why are the instructors acting like that? What are they going to do to me?"
"I think they're going to put you in the First Class. And they're going to start training you in earnest."
I was a little confused about whether I should tell him it was a good thing.
For now, it seemed like a good thing.
If he entered the First Class, he wouldn't die in vain.
"I'm not going in there."
Pae Maseong said as if it was out of the question, and I felt a little frustrated. Pae Maseong had no sense of reality and couldn't judge the situation. Even though some time had passed since he came here, he didn't seem to know how easy it was to die here.
"Maseong, do you know how many people want to get in there but can't?"
"Then are you going to go in too?"
I wondered what this kid was talking about.
If I could get in, I would. But since they wouldn't accept me, I couldn't.
I wasn't unaware of how unsightly the guys in the First Class acted, but if that place could protect me and make my life more tenacious, there was no reason to refuse.
But the problem was that they wouldn't accept me.
"If I can't go with you, Socheong, I'm not going."
"Ah."
I belatedly realized what Pae Maseong was worried about.
Pae Maseong had never gotten along well with the other children. It wasn't entirely the other children's fault. It was largely due to Pae Maseong's lack of social skills, and he seemed to be worried that if he went to the First Class alone, he would have no one to talk to there.
"You can hang out with me when we're not in the dormitory, so don't worry."
"Okay."
We had just finished talking when the door opened again, and the children who shared our dormitory rushed in.
"Hey, Pae Maseong. How did you do it? Did you really defeat Do Hawol? I couldn't believe it even when I saw it. How did you do it? Have you learned martial arts before?"
"I never thought you could exert that much power with a wooden sword. I thought that was only possible with a real sword."
"And Maseong, you couldn't even do it before."
The children asked noisily, but Pae Maseong didn't answer them and went to his spot and lay down.
(End of Chapter)